On The Beat

Virginia Tech

January 17, 1990|Compiled by DAVE JOHNSON

COLES UPDATE

Although he continues to struggle with his jump shot, guard Bimbo Coles is climbing up two career scoring charts. Coles currently has 2,093 points, only the third Tech player to surpass the 2,000 mark. Coles needs 44 points to move past Dale Solomon into second place and 297 to break Dell Curry's career mark of 2,389. Coles trails the Metro Conference scoring record set by Memphis State's Keith Lee by 316 points. At his current 26.3 points-per-game pace, Coles would break Lee's mark in 12 games. ... Freshman guard J.J. Burton, a York High graduate and the Hokies' second-leading scorer, missed Tech's two-point loss to Southern Mississippi with a sprained ankle. He returned and played some minutes off the bench in Saturday's 72-68 victory over Tulane and started Monday's 74-61 win over Liberty.

NOTES AND STUFF

Freshman Dirk Williams of Lafayette started his first college game against Tulane and scored 21 points on 10-of-14 shooting. ... Saturday marked Tech's first road Metro Conference victory since it beat Cincinnati early in the 1987-88 season, a streak of 13 games. ... Before Monday's 13-point victory over Liberty, five of Tech's previous six games had been decided by five points or less.